1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical connector and lead wire cable assembly and more particularly, to an improved connector and lead cable assembly for interconnecting a monitor with a transducer, such as a medical electrode, secured to a human body.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
In order to determine the electrical phenomena arising from physiological functioning of a patent, such as apnea monitoring of an infant or an electrocardiographic monitoring of a patient, it is necessary to electrically interconnect the patient with transducers or electrodes contacting the skin of a patient with a monitoring instrument, such as an electrocardiographic device. The interconnecting cable and connector assembly must be capable of coupling the electrical impulses from the transducers on the patient's body with relatively permanent connections that are noise free. Frequently, a first electrode cable lead is provided at one end with electrode terminal clips for interconnection with the transducers or electrodes on the patient's skin. The cable lead can have a plurality of terminal pins at the other end that can be color coded for connection to a connector plug mounted on a second cable lead that is attached by a terminal clip to a monitor. An example of just an electrical connector and terminal clip for attachment to an electrode assembly can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,223.
Although the terminal pins can be color coded for matching with the indicia on the connector plug, it is still possible to mount the wrong terminal pin in the wrong terminal bore. Additionally the first electrode cable assembly is usually attached to the patient and the free exposed terminal pins can erroneously establish electrical contact with an inappropriate power source. This can be a particular safety problem in home apnea monitoring systems where other siblings can have access to the child who is being monitored. Thus, there is a need in the prior art to provide an improved, relatively inexpensive, safe medical cable assembly with connectors that can be fastened securely to ensure the proper electrical connection while minimizing any risk to the patient if the electrode lead cable assembly connector is left exposed.